TL;DR — Serper is a fast, inexpensive Google SERP API: send a query, get Google's results as JSON, priced per credit. ODEN is a retrieval-and-synthesis API: send a query, get a distilled answer plus citations. Serper is cheaper per raw call; ODEN saves you the fetch-extract-rank step and the tokens it costs. Choose Serper for cheap SERP data at volume; choose ODEN for answers an LLM can use directly.
Serper's pitch is speed and price for Google search results. It is a great building block if you want the SERP itself. ODEN sits one layer up: it uses retrieval as a means to an end and returns the end — the answer.
At a glance#
| ODEN | Serper | |
|---|---|---|
| Output | Synthesized answer + ranked citations | Google SERP JSON (organic, PAA, knowledge graph) |
| Reads page contents | Yes | No — returns the results page |
| Built for | LLM context / RAG / agents | Cheap, fast SERP access at scale |
| Hosting | EU (Cloudflare, Sweden) | United States |
| robots.txt + EU TDM opt-out at source | Yes | Not the model |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly quota + never-expiring top-ups | Pay-per-credit, very low per query |
| Free allowance | 1,000 searches/month | Trial credits |
Where Serper is ahead#
Raw price per call. Serper is one of the cheapest ways to get Google results programmatically, and it is fast. If your workload is "I need the SERP, in bulk, as cheaply as possible" — and you are happy to build the retrieval and extraction on top — Serper is hard to beat on cost per query.
Where ODEN is ahead#
Serper hands you links and snippets; you still fetch, clean and rank the pages before a model can use them. Those extra steps cost latency, tokens and code. ODEN returns the finished answer and citations in a single call. For an LLM feature, the total cost is not just the per-query price — it is per-query price plus extraction plus tokens, and that is where ODEN's all-in model competes. ODEN is also EU-hosted with source-level compliance checks.
Pricing head-to-head#
ODEN: Free 1,000/month, Pro €29/month for 6,000, top-ups €7 per 1,000, never expiring. See pricing.
Serper prices per credit and is very cheap per raw SERP call; check Serper's current pricing. Remember to add the cost of the extraction pipeline you will build on top when comparing to ODEN's one call.
When to choose which#
- Choose Serper if you want the cheapest, fastest Google SERP data and will build retrieval yourself.
- Choose ODEN if you want a ready answer with citations, EU hosting, and no extraction pipeline to maintain.
FAQ#
Is Serper cheaper than ODEN?#
Per raw SERP call, usually yes. But Serper returns the results page, not an answer — add the fetch, extract, rank and token costs of turning that into LLM context. ODEN includes those in one call. Compare total cost, not just per-query price.
Can Serper give me a synthesized answer?#
No. It returns Google's results as JSON. ODEN returns the synthesized answer and citations.
Which is better for a RAG pipeline?#
ODEN, if you want retrieval done for you; Serper, if you want to own every step and optimise for cost. See the RAG guide.